Research for Better Schools

Using TIMSS Videos to Improve Learning of Mathematics: A Resource Guide

TIMSS Public Release Lesson CDs

The TIMSS public release mathematics lessons are available as a four-CD set, available from both RBS and LessonLab. All videos have subtitles in English and the language in which the lesson is conducted. Each lesson video contains four sections:

The transcript, index, and commentaries are keyed electronically to the video, allowing the viewer to go directly to a particular time in the lesson. Information in each of these sections is not uniform. For example, the teacher commentary may or may not provide information about how long the class has been together or whether the class is taught in a second language. Outlines in the Lessons with Detailed Description and Commentary section draw on information from the commentaries and other information provided on the CD.

Technical Note.

Public and private work

The index and lesson graph for each lesson indicate segments of “public class work,” “private class work,” and “optional private or public class work.” These refer to categories used in the TIMSS Video Study (see U.S. Dept. of Ed., March 2003, pp. 53–56). “Public class work” is comprised of three categories:

“Private class work” is:

“Optional private or public class work” is:

Commentary

The national research coordinator’s commentary often gives some information about trends for the coordinator’s country. For example, the national research coordinator for Switzerland mentions eight didactic principles and identifies occurrences of three of these in the lesson:

  1. active discovery learning and problem solving
  2. cooperative learning and learning through communication
  3. varying formats of representation
  4.  “spiral principle”
  5. productive practice
  6. automatization and practice
  7. dealing positively with mistakes
  8. relating mathematics as much as possible to other school subjects

The researcher’s commentary often compares practices shown in the video with the TIMSS Video Study findings about the teaching practices of the country. For example, in the researcher’s comments for J2, the lesson differed from many other Japanese lessons in the TIMSS Video Study due to the amount of time spent working as a whole class. Teacher commentaries from different countries reflect different concerns and sometimes describe different classroom routines.

A note on sources

A video study of three countries, Germany, Japan, and the United States was conducted in 1995 (Stigler et al., 1999) and lesson clips from this study were released to the public. The Japanese lessons used in the 1999 TIMSS Video Study are the same as those used in 1995. The U. S. public release lessons for the 1999 study are different from those released in connection with the 1995 study.

References

Stigler, J.W., Gonzales, P.A., Kawanka, T., Knoll, S., & Serrano, A. (1999). The TIMSS videotape classroom study: Methods and findings from an exploratory research project on eighth-grade mathematics instruction in Germany, Japan, and the United States. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (March 2003). Teaching Mathematics in Seven Countries: Results from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study, NCES (2003-013), by A. M.-Y. Chiu, W. Etterbeek, R. Gallimore, H. Garnier, K. Bogard Givvin, P. Gonzales, J. Hiebert, H. Hollingsworth, J. Jacobs, N. Kersting, A. Manaster, C. Manaster, M. Smith, J. Stigler, E. Tseng, and D. Wearne. . Washington, DC: Author.

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